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1.12.2024Bayer 04

Birthday Boy of the Month 3: Wolfgang Rolff turns 65

Wolfgang ‘Wolle’ Rolff was born on 26.12.1959 in Lamstedt, a community in the Lower Saxony administrative district of Cuxhaven. He started his football career at TSV Lamstedt. He moved on to OSC Bremerhaven with the U17s as he trained to be a retail salesman. He started in senior football at the Nordsee Stadium in Bremerhaven.

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He was promoted to Bundesliga 2 with the first team at OSC Bremerhaven and went straight back down in 1979/80. But his performances in the 35 games in the second season were so good that Fortuna Köln, rivals from Bundesliga 2 North, brought him to the Südstadion. He made a name for himself there, became a U21 international and in his second season at Fortuna received lots of offers from the Bundesliga. Wolfgang Rolff opted for Hamburg SV.

From the 1982/83 season he was a first choice in Hamburg where he played 32 Bundesliga matches helping HSV to become champions of Germany. The high point in that season was the final in the European Cup. In the final against Juventus, Rolff played their midfield maestro Michel Platini off the park. The North German club became champions of Europe with a goal scored by Felix Magath. As season he made his debut for Germany. Wolle made his first of 37 international appearances in a 1-0 defeat in Portugal on 23 February 1983. After the 1986 World Cup and being a runner-up he arrived under the Bayer Cross. In his three years at Bayer 04, he played 125 games and scored 14 goals. Very important was his penalty converted as the second player in the penalty shootout in the UEFA Cup final against Espanyol. As the captain of the Werkself he was the first to hold the trophy up into the dark night sky.

Wolfgang Rolff

After three years in Leverkusen, Wolfgang Rolff joined Racing Strasbourg in the summer of 1989. He returned to Germany a year later, this time to Bayer 05 Uerdingen. They was relegated from the Bundesliga. For the 1991/92 season he followed the call of Karlsruher coach Winfried Schäfer and helped KFC achieve a UEFA Cup finish. In that competition, Karlsruher caused a stir in the following season by reaching the semi-finals.

In 1994, at the age of 35, Wolfgang Rolff returned to the Rhineland again. Firstly he played for FC Köln for three years and then another season for Fortuna Köln in Bundesliga 2.

He started his coaching career after ending his playing career. After being head coach at SV Meppen, he primarily made his name as assistant coach to Berti Vogts – including in Leverkusen – and Thomas Schaaf. Rolff had his best years in Bremen. He stayed with the Green and Whites from 2004 to 2013 and he won the Pokal with Werder Bremen in 2009 with a 1-0 win against Bayer 04 in the final. The North Germans were back in the final a year later but this time they lost 4-0 to Bayern Munich.

Wolle looks back at a long career in football. Both as a player and as a coach, he has experienced and seen a lot. Today he runs a sports marketing agency with his son Yannik and lives in Cologne with his wife Andrea.

Dear Wolle, I wish you many happy returns on your 65th birthday. Stay fit and healthy and have a great time!

 

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